Nursery rhymes and play songs to enjoy with your baby. Gentle children's songs.
We’d like to introduce some nursery songs to enjoy with your baby.
These days, many babies are exposed to music from the time they’re in the womb through prenatal education.
Some families sing nursery rhymes as lullabies to help put their babies to sleep.
In this article, we’ve gathered gentle nursery songs and lullabies you’ll want to listen to with your baby, along with playful songs great for childcare and popular anime tunes.
They’re all fun songs that even babies who don’t understand words yet can enjoy.
Please try listening together as a parent and child.
Also perfect for baby massage!
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Nursery rhymes and play songs to enjoy with your baby. Gentle children's songs (1–10)
Knock knock knock knock, Grandpa with a beard
Tonton Tonton Hige Jiisan features all kinds of characters, like a bearded grandpa and a person wearing glasses.
It’s also popular as a fingerplay song where you act out the characters with your hands.
For the bearded grandpa, you place both hands in fists under your chin.
For the person with glasses, you make two circles with your hands and hold them over your eyes to look like you’re wearing glasses.
With its upbeat melody and visually engaging gestures, this song is fun even for babies to listen to!
Snip-Snip Dance
A simple dance you can do using the “scissors” from rock-paper-scissors—the Choki Choki Dance! If your baby can already make the scissors hand, try dancing together with Mom or Dad.
If your baby can’t make the scissors yet, Mom or Dad can dance and show it to them.
First, make the scissors with one hand at a time and dance in turn.
At the end, make scissors with both hands and dance in a double peace pose.
It’s not a difficult dance, so get into the rhythm and have fun giving it a try!
strollInoue Azumi
Once they can walk, I want to go for strolls together while singing this song! The piece that inspires that feeling is “Sanpo,” which is also used as the opening theme for Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro.
It depicts the exciting experiences and discoveries that await along the path when you head out for a walk.
It’s also great to listen to while chatting with your baby—like suggesting you go look for those creatures that appear in the song.
The bright, upbeat melody has a lively tempo that your baby is sure to enjoy!
Nursery rhymes and play songs to enjoy with your baby: Gentle children's songs (11–20)
My Neighbor TotoroInoue Azumi
When it comes to Ghibli films that are approachable even for very small babies, My Neighbor Totoro is probably the top choice! The song with the same title as the anime, sung as the ending theme, features Azumi Inoue’s gentle voice and is a delight to listen to.
In the part where the character names are repeated over and over, a baby who’s just starting to talk might even try to imitate and sing along! The exciting, heart-thumping lyrics that bring to mind various scenes from the anime will give your little one wonderful dreams.
Mr. ElephantSakushi: Mado Michio / Sakkyoku: Dan Ikuma
The children’s song “Zō-san” lets you feel the warm bond between a baby elephant and its mother.
The lyrics were written by Michio Mado, who also created famous children’s songs like “Yagi-san Yūbin” and “Ichinensei ni Nattara.” In this song, a baby elephant is teased by others for its long trunk, but it proudly embraces it, realizing it’s the same as its beloved mother’s.
The gentle duple-time melody would make a lovely lullaby.
Give it a listen with the wish that parents and children can stay as close as the elephant mother and child.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Song
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a picture book by American author Eric Carle that’s beloved around the world.
This song, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar Song,” sets that story to music just as it is.
Of course, it’s fun to read the book and follow the narrative, but following the story through music engages the imagination in different ways, so it’s highly recommended! Even babies can let their imaginations expand in their own way.
The melody is gentle, as if it directly reflects the relaxed world of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so you can listen in a calm, unhurried mood.
Buzz buzz buzz
Even slightly scary bees can feel cute in this children’s song, “Bun Bun Bun.” Based on a folk song that was sung in Bohemia, Czechia, it depicts bees buzzing around flowers in search of nectar.
In Japan, as the title suggests, the buzzing sound of a bee is expressed as “būn,” but in German the sound is expressed a bit differently, so the title there is “Summ, summ, summ.” Honeybees are essential for the growth of beautiful flowers, vegetables, and fruits.
If you don’t bother them, it’s rare to have a frightening experience, so when you see them while out for a walk, try singing or listening to this song from a safe distance.